Blacksmith vs. the System

After the development of the crystal, I wondered if the same process could be replicated with germanium, another element belonging to the same category as silicon and carbon, closer to metals. But, instead of trying it, I added it to notes, to be passed back to the team.

While it was interesting, I couldn't afford to delve deeper into the topic, especially not when it wouldn't be as easy. Silicon made up more than one-fourth of the Earth's crust, with a corresponding simple method to purify it.

Meanwhile, germanium consisted considerably less than one in a million, meaning any potential experiment required a long prospecting just to identify it; followed by an even more challenging purification route.

Also, the limited abundance meant that, even if it performed better, it wouldn't mean much. Not when the whole point of experimenting with the crystal was to find a mass production alternative. Germanium crystals were a good project for one of the promising assistants of Spencer or Liam, as a challenge to test them while also checking the viability of a better alternative.

Meanwhile, I turned my attention to creating a mass production method for the crystal, which turned out to be even easier than I expected. I created several metal casings, each with air-sealed plugs to feed pure silicon and nitrogen from a larger reserve, sized to the exact shape I wanted. Doing that, I produced large beehive plates, which then could be cut and merged to create plates of desired size, and cut to be thinner than a tenth of an inch without losing their effectiveness.

Together, it allowed me to reach a shocking mana storage and delivery efficiency, reducing it by just below a percent a day after laying fifteen interlocking metal and crystal plates.

It had only two caveats. First, while it was possible to reduce the loss more by adding more plates, the efficiency had dropped quite a bit. Increasing the thickness from thirty inches reduced the loss from a percent to half a percent based on my calculations. Similarly, trying to make the hexagons of the beehive pattern smaller made the material too fragile.

The second caveat was more significant. It was a density problem. All the calculations I made were for a mana density below a certain level. Four hundred points of mana per cubic meter of volume, to be exact. Above that, the efficiency started to drop very radically.

The general predictions were pretty solid, especially since I had my Mana Detection skill, allowing me to make the observations about density shifts more accurately. It also allowed me to see why that density point was where the problems began.

In higher densities, the principles of mana shifted, making it harder to contain, similar to the feel of its usage back when I had upgraded from Rare to Epic.

"It still feels monumental," I muttered in excitement. While those caveats were enough to disqualify the method from several specific usages, there was one thing we could use it for.

To establish a proper mana transmission pipeline. All we needed was to make the pipes and mana silos large enough to ensure the necessary flow rate, which would allow us to establish outposts truly far away from our base, either spreading wide on areas with little environmental mana and correspondingly little danger, or picking higher mana-density locations.

The progress was significant enough to summon the council. Ideally, I would have loved to gather a full team, but everyone was busy, so I focused on the three that were most relevant. Liam, who would be overseeing the manufacturing process, Harold, who would be responsible for deploying the forces to defend the outpost, and Rosie, who would be leading the scouts that would keep the pipes safe.

Liam arrived first. "Sir," he greeted. "The message said you have a major update for the forges."

"I do," I said while I gestured to him to take a seat, and slid several samples toward him. The silicon crystal in its raw state, its beehive patterned semi-complete product, the layered plate, and a full box.

He started from the crystal, though he didn't have any reaction to the incomplete versions. Only when he had put his hands on the enclosed box, and detected the enclosed mana, his eyes widened. "Is this..."

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"A mana container, yes," I replied. "One that requires no external mana to support its operation, and can hold mana long term with a daily loss below one percent."

"T-that's … revolutionary," he gasped. "Just having a few hundred of those plates will revolutionize our glider designs by solving the range problem."

I shivered at the mention of the gliders. Somehow, my aversion to flying was still in place after everything. One of those days, I should find a solution to it. Maybe some immersion therapy, or something similar.

"A few hundred?" I chuckled, suppressing the chill. "Think bigger, like a hundred thousand plates produced every day. Maybe even more if needed."

"A hundred thousand per hour. That … isn't it a bit too ambitious, sir?" he asked.

I chuckled. "Not even close. What do you think about the metal part?"

"It's easy," he said. "Most of our steel production is already dedicated to steel plates, which is critical. We can just set up cutting stations. A tenth of an inch would have some tolerance issues, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. After that, we can just cold-stamp the sheets, to create the gaps. If that distorts the beehive pattern, we can cast the steel directly in a honeycomb pattern before cutting as well. The crystal, on the other hand…"

"Oh, that's even easier," I said. "You just need to prepare some injection casts with a beehive pattern, feed it with purified nitrogen and silicon, then, either let it sit in an environment with mana for a few days, or blast it with Nurture skill. Then, all that remains is to cut it into the appropriate thickness."

"That's…"

"Too easy, right," I said. "Just sand, air, and some magic, and voila."

He chuckled. "It certainly does make manufacturing easy," he admitted. "Do you mind if I ask a few operational questions, sir. I can figure it out myself if needed, but…"

"No problem. We're still waiting for Rosie and Harold in any case." With that, I pulled the paper, and started explaining to him the process in detail, focusing more on the manufacturing process than the theoretical basis. It wasn't an attempt to keep it hidden, but simply because Liam wasn't particularly interested in those aspects.

He was much more of an engineer than a scientist. I wasn't complaining, as it meant problems that sounded utterly boring to me, like optimal piston size for twenty specialized steam engine models while factoring in interoperability and replacement rate; or the ideal muzzle size for the steam cannons types based on ammunition.

They were critical issues that needed to be solved. That, I could never refuse. But I was certainly happy to have someone reliable who could take over, and I didn't need to pay attention unless they had a part that needed my assistance.

It was why I didn't go deep into the interesting nature of that parasitic energy creating the crystals and what it might mean other than discussing possible side effects like the risks of spreading, and how to properly turn the material inert without ruining the structural integrity of it.

We were deep into the technical details when Harold and Rosie finally arrived, and I shared the latest developments. Rosie spoke first. "It's good that you succeeded, but one of your plans is not feasible," she said.

"Which one?" I asked. "Trying to muscle in on the mana-rich locations?"

"No, trying to spread further into the mana dead locations. It's impossible to spread our forces that much. And, without it, pipes are too easily destroyed, either by beasts or by enemy action. "

I shook my head. "Not right now, but once we grow bigger, we might set up stations and deploy ascended. That way, we can set up security stations, and keep everything under control."

She sighed. "You are too excited. You're missing the obvious. Spreading our ascended like that would be an invitation for assassination. No, trying to penetrate into mana-rich locations is a better choice. It will put us into conflict with Drakka, but it's inevitable. A few concentrated locations will be safer, especially if we can set a single dungeon gate as a center and spread around, leaving only one point that needs to be defended."

"It's more aggressive than I prefer."

Rosie shook her head. "We might not have a choice. Currently, the siege of Asterion has stabilized, but we don't have any reliable information about why. It's a good time to harass Drakka, because if they win, our lives will get a lot harder."

"Makes sense," Liam interjected. "Honestly, I don't understand why Asterion didn't ask for our help after giving us the Ichor."

I sighed. "They are probably waiting until the number of ascended reaches surpasses sixty."

"Why?"

"It's a smart trick," Rosie responded. "It serves three purposes. They prove their goodwill and prove themselves to be better than Drakka, it's proven that their method of ascension works without any side effects, and in the process, we raise an army that can actually make a difference without relying heavily on our King of Steel, who has to stay behind."

I was about to respond, when I noticed Harold was silent, yet a thoughtful expression was on his face. For him to stay silent when the topic was so explosive was unexpected. "What's on your mind, Harold?" I asked.

He paused for a moment, glanced at us. "The reason we can't use cars to collect mana is the size, right?" he asked. I nodded. "I'm trying to understand why we don't use ships instead?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it just as quickly. That was not something I had considered before…